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I'm working with documents stored on my local drive, and whenever I double-click on one to open and edit it, Word starts up and presents it in read-only mode. If I close Word and then immediately double-click the document again, it opens up without the read-only indicator.
These are documents which are edited every day. I'm wondering if the fact that they're stored in a folder which is monitored by a file synchronization application has anything to do with this.
Secondly, when I bought Office 365 Home Premium online, it appeared that my only option was the monthly plan, which ostensibly is more expensive than the yearly plan. I don't see any way to change my account from monthly to yearly. Am I missing something?
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I spent 2 hours on the telephone with Microsoft Support and going up the chain of command, and was told there is no way to turn off read only.
Will try that but I suspect it is already turned off.
Turning off Protected View should do what you want. (Just be careful when you open files from unknown senders.) See my previous reply.
Here are a couple more possible fixes:
I keep getting files that I am working on locked for editing. Word only allows me to open them read-only
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/LockedFiles.htm
“This modification is not allowed because the document is locked” error message when you modify a document
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818852
File Locked – Read-Only
I had the same problem. In my case, after applying the latest updates (June 2015) word started locking files and all files i opened in Word were read only.
The problem was the Preview pane in Windows Explorer. When you click a word file, Winword.exe runs as a background process, locking the file. Even if you unselect the file, it is still running. Although before the update it worked correctly, somehow now is broken or a new ‘unknown to me’ setting has been added.
Hi Ron:
Tip: looking for similar problems with solutions is good.
BUT If the solution does not work for you please do NOT add your reply to it. START A NEW QUESTION. That way you can describe your situation and MORE people are likely to look at your problem.
It definitely sucks. And it definitely is not supposed to "work" that way.
So something else is going on here.
One thing to try is starting Word in safe mode. If that helps, then the problem is an addin. You'll have to figure out which one is the problem.
Shortcut to Start Word in Safe Mode or Excel in Safe Mode, Hold <CTL> key when clicking on icon or using the Start menu search window and entering WINWORD.EXE /a or WINWORD.EXE /safe
Another thing to try is go into File Explorer. Right click on one of the problem files, select properties, look in the General tab, near the bottom to see if the "Read only" attribute is turned on.
Since you are lawyers, it could be that your network administrators have turned on some form of DRM, Digital Rights Management. Check with them.
Are you sending and receiving the document as an attachment in an e-mail? In that case, download the document to your hard drive when you receive it. It will be blocked from editing, which you can turn off by locating the icon for the file (in File Explorer/Windows Explorer), right-clicking it and choosing Properties; in the Properties window, click to Unblock the file.
If you want to, you can turn off the options that refer to Protected View in Trust Center (File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Protected View).